


No Control

by HazAndNi



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-03-29 14:11:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3899239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazAndNi/pseuds/HazAndNi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam and Spencer have never been close, so when Liam asks her out for Valentine's Day, it takes Spencer by surprise. Will this date change the course of their whole relationship?</p><p>(I'm so not good at summaries)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for the formatting. I'm posting from my phone and will fix it when I have access to an actual computer.
> 
> I hope you enjoy! Please comment if you like :)
> 
> Next chapter will be posted either Sunday or Monday at the latest unless I finish it early

Spencer sits on Louis couch flipping through the channels on his big screen, reveling in the silence of his empty apartment. On any given day, any number of the boys and their girlfriends/friends would be over, but today it’s quiet and Spencer’s thankful. Valentines day is not a day she wants to have to deal with anyone.  
  
At the moment, Louis is out buying flowers for his date with Eleanor, which means that he won't be back for a while. He's notoriously picky, particularly when it came to the things he buys for his dates and girlfriends, and considering he and El have been together for over 3 years, he would want whatever he gets for her to be absolutely perfect. Spencer had found this out the hard way when she had mistakenly agreed to help Him find the perfect Christmas present for Eleanor and he’d ended up spending 3 hours debating with a jeweler over the quality and clarity of a diamond in a necklace. She knew she’d never make that mistake again, so when he’d asked her if she wanted to go with him to the flower shop, she happily opted to stay in. Not that she wasn't going be doing that same thing for the rest of the night. While all the boys had Valentine's dates or plans, Spencer was still recovering from the effects of a bad breakup.  
The doorbell rings, disturbing the quiet and making Spencer, so engrossed in the tv show she had finally settle on, nearly jump out of her skin. Slowly she rises from her position on the couch and makes her way over to open the door, not expecting to see Liam on the other side.  
  
“Hey Spencer.” He smiles at her brightly, something she’s not quite used to. From the beginning, their relationship has been less than friendly.  
  
“Uh….. Hi?” she stammers before adding “Louis isn’t here. Not sure when he’ll be back.”  
  
“Oh. Yeah…. uh, I wasn’t looking for him.” Liam stutters out.  
  
“Oh. Well, none of the other boys are here either. I mean, Zayn was earlier, but he left hours ago to go see Perrie.” Spencer shifts awkwardly from one foot to the other, the handle to the door held tightly in her hand.  
  
“I’m actually here to see you. If that’s ok.” She raises an eyebrow at him. They don’t hang out. They don’t ever talk. What could he possibly need with her about, and on Valentine’s Day.  
  
“Uh…. ok….. Do you, like, want to come inside?” she asks awkwardly. Liam shakes his head.  
  
“No it’s ok. I just was wondering…… Uh….. I thought maybe…..” he stops himself, takes a deep breath and then starts again. “Niall said you turned down his offer to go to Funky Buddha and I’m not really interested in clubbing tonight either. So I was thinking maybe you and I could go to dinner.” Jaw dropping, Spencer takes a step back, almost as if she had been the recipient of a physical blow to the chest. “Oh gosh! Um nevermind. I knew this wasn't a good idea. I just thought…. you know we both just went through rough splits and I thought maybe it would be nice to go out and just have a nice night. But it was….. It’s stupid I’m sorry.” He turns to leave, eyes downcast, but Spencer reaches out for his wrist to stop him.  
  
“That sounds nice.” She whispers. Because he’s right. It’s been hard. Ever since she broke up with Mark, she’s been lonely and sad. A night out would do her some good. Even if it is a night out with Liam.  
  
“Really? Are you sure?” he asks. Spencer nods, a shy smile playing on her lips. “Ok. Cool. Right. So uh, I guess I’ll pick you up at 7.”  
  
“Yeah. Ok sure. See you then.” Liam nods, smiling at her like she just made his whole day, before he turns and walks towards the elevator. She shuts the door, leaning her back against the cool wood, and smiles. It’s not like her to be excited at the thought of spending time with him. Most of their interactions typically end in an argument. But this time he seems different, and so who could blame her if she can't wait to see how the night turns out.

  


xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  


A few hours later, Spencer is leaning over the counter in her bathroom, getting in as close to the mirror as she can to apply her mascara. For hours, she's agonized over every detail of her appearance for the night, from her shoes and dress all the way down to her nail polish and lipstick. Louis hadn't helped at all, popping into the bathroom every 5 minutes asking her who she her date is.  
  
Through the mirror, she can see him sneaking in behind through the door, but before he can say anything there is a loud knock at the door, followed by the equally loud sounds of the door opening and slamming shut.  
  
“Tommo! Where you at mate?” Naturally, it’s Niall. No one else in their lives has quite the same knack for making a complete racket wherever they go.  
  
"In here mate!" Louis calls out. Spencer watches as he makes his way into her bedroom and stands next to Louis in the doorway to the bathroom.  
  
"Damn, Spence. You look great! You coming out with me then?” She rolls her eyes.  
  
“Nooooo. I already told you I’m not interested in watching a bunch of sad lonely girls throw themselves at you.” Niall laughs, deep and loud as usual, but he know’s it’s true. He’s not that interested in it either, would much rather get piss drunk with his mates, but it comes with the territory, and it doesn’t really hurt his confidence any.  
  
“Whatcha all dressed up for then?” He asks curiously.  
  
“Save it. She won’t say.” Louis replys bitterly. Spencer laughs at them.  
  
“I’m just having dinner with a friend. No big deal. We’re just going somewhere nice so I didn’t want to look like a complete bag of trash.” She watches through the mirror as Louis rolls his eyes.  
  
“Girls don’t wear dresses like yours for ‘just friends’ Spence.” Spencer looks down at the dress in question and she knows he’s right. It’s nothing too fancy, just a cute, navy blue spaghetti strap dress that she knows brings out the color of her eyes, but it’s definitely a “Date with a Cute Boy” dress.  
  
“Lou, let it go PLEASE. It’s not a big deal.” she pleads, turning around and making sad eyes at him. He rolls his eyes again, in his dramatic Louis way, but nods in agreement.  
  
“Yeah, alright fine. But you should wear your hair down. Looks cute that way.” he huffs before turning to Niall. “Who's all going out tonight. El and I are meant to go to dinner, but who knows, we may end up dropping by.”  
  
“Just me and Haz mate. Zayn’s got something special planned for Perrie and Liam’s got a date apparently.”  
  
“A date? With who?” Louis asks loudly, clearly offended that he was unaware of this information. Niall just shrugs, looking as confused as Louis feels. Spencer feels heat rise in her cheeks. Liam told Niall this was a date? “Huh. Weird. Hopefully it’s not Sophia. I’m glad she’s gone.”  
  
“Louis! That’s rude!” Spencer says, thankful for the distraction from her thought. Louis shrugs carelessly.  
  
“It’s true though. About sick of hearing about her all the time. And the things she plants in El’s head! That I’m cheating on her? Ridiculous. All she does is gossip. It’s no wonder they broke up. I knew from the very beginning she was only interested in the attention. Liam’s much better off without her. She’s just a massive bi…”  
  
“LOUIS STOP!” Spencer yells. She sets down her eyeliner and turns to the boys. “It’s over now. She’s gone. Let it go dude!” Niall chuckles beside Louis, mouth hidden behind his hand. Louis side eyes him before slapping him right in the stomach.  
  
“Shove off Niall.” He smirks, turning on his heel and walking out. Niall and Spencer follow him out into the kitchen where he’s gathering his wallet and keys. “Well i’m off kids.”  
  
“Have fun mate.” Niall wheezes out, hands clutching his stomach from where he was hit.  
  
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Lou.” Spencer tells him, eyebrows raised sternly. Louis winks at her and makes his way out the door, slamming it dramatically behind him.  
  
“Always the drama queen, that Louis.” Niall giggles. He turns to her, eyeing her curiously. “You alright S? I know things have been rough for you. I just want to make sure you’re doing ok.” She smiles. This. This is the reason why she loves Niall the best. It’s true, she’s known Zayn the longest, and Louis is her best friend. Harry’s lovely too. But Niall….. Niall is the best of all of them. People think he’s confused and oblivious all the time, but when it really counts, he can be the most perceptive, caring person on the planet.  
  
“I’m…. I’m ok Ni. I mean, things aren’t great. Mark isn’t an easy person to get over. But I’m doing alright I guess.” The look in his eye says immediately that he doesn’t believe her. He steps forward, wrapping his arms around her slim waist and pulling her into a tight hug.  
  
“I love you Spencer. I’m here if you want to talk about it.” He whispers into her hair. She smiles against the skin of his neck. Yes, he truly is the best.  
  
“Thanks Ni. I love you too.” she tells him as they pull apart.  
  
“Well, I guess I should be off too. The party don’t start till Nialler walks in.” Spencer rolls her eyes as she follows him towards the door.  
  
“Be careful Nialler. And don’t call me if you get arrested. You and Harry always manage to get into stupid shit when you go out and I’m NOT bailing you out this time.” Niall winks at her.  
  
“That’s what we’ve got Li for love.” he laughs. With that, he sets off down towards the elevator at a run. Typical Niall. Spencer giggles as she shuts the door and makes her way into the living room. And then a thought hits her as she sits down. Date?  
  
Spencer would be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about it. Because she has. Ever since the minute Liam left, she’s been thinking about it. Considering their history, she can’t imagine that he meant to ask her out on a proper date. But if that’s the case, why did he tell Niall that it was? It’s entirely possible he said it just to get Niall off his back. Niall could be pretty relentless when it came to going clubbing. But he could have just told Niall he was going to Andy’s or meeting up with one of his sisters and Niall would never question it.  
  
Before she can truly give herself a panic attack over the entire situation, the doorbell rings, and she knows it’s Liam. She jumps up, rushing to the door. Before she opens it, she checks herself in the mirror. Spencer isn’t vain by any means, but she knows she looks good. The dress fits her just right and, just as Louis said, her hair looks cute the way it hangs down in soft, natural waves. She didn’t put on too much make up, she knows Liam doesn’t really like that. Taking a deep breath, she turns to the door and opens it. Immediately, the wind is knocked out of her at the site of him, dressed in a white tshirt, black skinny jeans and a fitted black blazer. His hair is slicked back, just like it usually is but a little bit neater, like he took great care in doing it. He looks incredible, like David Beckham or Justin Timberlake.  
  
“Hey.” Spencer breathes out softly, completely taken by surprise by how dressed up he is. Liam clears his throat.  
  
“Uh, hi. You look…. you look lovely.” he stammers, like he wasn’t expecting it. She smiles up at him.  
  
“Um. Thanks. I wasn’t sure what to wear.” she stutters. He smiles back at her.  
  
“This is perfect.” he tells her. “Um, here these are for you. I thought…. I don’t know. It’s Valentines Day so I thought it would be appropriate to bring flowers. I hope that’s alright.” He holds out a bouquet of lilies, her favorite flowers. She hadn’t even noticed them when she’d opened the door a few minutes before.  
  
“Oh my god, Liam. You didn’t have to do that. But thank you. They’re beautiful.” she gushes, taking the flowers. “I have a vase in my room. Do you mind if I run in and put these in there real quick before we leave?” Liam nods and she turns around, racing across the living room towards her bedroom. She grabs the vase off of her dresser, taking it into the bathroom to fill with water before bringing it back into her room, setting it back up on the dresser and very gently dropping the flowers inside. She leans in close to smell them once before she turns and walks back out to where Liam is waiting by the door.  
  
“Ready?” he asks nervously. She nods before following him out the door.  
  
“Ready.”


	2. Chapter 2

Spencer spends the whole car ride to the restaurant debating with herself on whether or not this is a date. 

He brought flowers. He’s dressed in a freaking BLAZER! It’s a date, her brain tells her over and over. If she wasn’t so scared of his answer, she’d ask him herself, but she’s terrified of what he’ll say. 

“Hey, are you ok? You’re not usually this quiet, especially around me.” he asks nervously. She shakes her head, hoping to rattle the Date or No Date dilemma right out of her head. It definitely doesn’t work.

“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine it’s just…. uh, nothing. It’s nothing.” she mumbles. Liam side eyes her skeptically.

“Uh, you sure? That wasn’t very convincing.” 

Great, she thinks, this is going to be JUST like every other time we’re around each other.

“Yes, Liam. I’m fine.” She snaps, rolling her eyes. Liam pulls the car into a small parking lot and parks. He turns, looking at her sadly.

“I’m sorry. I know things have been hard for you lately.” he says softly, reaching out to take her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. She sighs. He’s not wrong.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I’m just tired I guess.” she tells him, smiling up at him slightly. He nods, dropping her hand. He shuts the car off and looks back over at her.

“Hope you’re hungry.” he says with a smile, before opening his door and stepping out. Spencer makes a move to open her car door, but Liam is on her side before she even knows it, pulling the door open and helping her out of the car. Very date like.

************

The restaurant is nice. Much nicer than she expected. The kind of place that uses actual cloth table cloths and napkins. As soon as they are seated, their waiter comes over to ask if they’d like some wine. Liam orders a bottle of the most expensive wine they have before Spencer even has a chance to speak.

“I mean, it’s Valentine’s day. Why not?” he says when she questions it. 

“Yeah but….” She thinks for a second before she continues. Should she ask him what this is? “Liam.”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you tell Niall you had a date?” He looks up at her, confused. 

“Uh…. because I thought this was a date. I mean…. Did you think it wasn’t?” he asks quietly.

“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t really sure.” she whispers. He smiles at her from across the table.

“Look, I mean I just thought…. We’re at dinner and it’s just us. I thought we both deserved this. I know things were really hard for you when you and Mark broke up. Louis said that you basically cried nonstop for the first two weeks after you moved in with him. And to be honest….. things haven’t really been easy for me either.” He takes a deep breath, hesitating. This is the first time he’s really talked about the break up with Sophia. “When Sophia and I broke up it was like…. I don’t I felt like everything I thought I knew about her was a lie. And it killed me because I loved her so much.” Spencer reaches across the table and takes his hand.

“I get it. I felt the same way. I’m sorry.” she tells him. Shaking his head, he smiles back at her.

“It’s ok. I mean, once I got over the initial shock of it all, it kinda made sense you know? But I mean, I just thought that we both deserved a night out with someone who wasn’t going to fuck us over you know? So yeah. It’s a date. But it’s also not a big deal or anything.” Spencer isn’t sure why, but she swears she can feel her heart breaking at his words.

“Yeah. I got you.” she whispers. 

“So. Um…. How are things going? Lou told me you’re looking for a new place?” Liam asks awkwardly, almost as if he can sense her emotions. Spencer shakes her head, an attempt to rid herself of the weird feelings pumping through her body before answering.

“Um. Yeah I mean…. I’ve kinda been looking. There’s not a lot out there though. Every place I’ve looked at is either too small or like, way out of my price range or something. But I’m really not interested in living with Louis forever. He’s disgusting. I’m sure you know that though.” Liam laughs, eyes squinting and face scrunching up in that adorable way he always laughs.

“Yeah, yeah I know what you mean. To be honest, I’m not quite sure how Harry managed to live with him for as long as he did.” The waiter brings out their wine and Liam, ever the gentleman, thanks him profusely. Spencer takes a cautious sip, not sure what to expect from such an expensive wine. If she doesn’t like it, she’ll drink it anyway, but she’d rather not make it known to him. To her surprise, it’s by far the best wine she’s ever had.

“Are you ready to order, or would you like a few more minutes to review the menu?” the waiter asks. Spencer looks up at Liam and smiles sheepishly.

“Honestly, I haven’t even looked.” She laughs. Liam chuckles.

“Me neither!” 

“No worries, mate. I’ll give you some more time.” the waiter says politely, before making his way back towards the kitchen.

“So…. have you ever been here before?” Spencer asks. Her stomach is rumbling. Nerves had plagued her all day, making it hard for her to even think about eating up until now. Liam shakes his head.

“Harry recommended it.” he laughs, before adding, “not the brightest, that one? When I asked him if he knew a nice place to take a girl on a date, he didn’t even question it.” Spencer laughs with him.

“Nah, I think he just doesn’t care. He’s Harry, you know? Laid back, hipster Harry.” Liam nods.

“Yeah… Makes sense I guess. He’s a weird guy.” She giggles. She adores Harry, there’s no question about that, but she’s not too sure about what goes on in the kids head sometimes. Liam nods and laughs, eye’s squinting up as he giggles at her. Spencer's heart does backflips over it, but for the life of her, she can’t figure out why. It’s not like her to care about the things that Liam does, to even notice these things. But lately… Lately she’d been noticing. Noticing the way he laughs with his whole body. The way he gets this intense, interested look in his big brown eyes when someone is talking to him, like he’s so focused on that person only. The way he moves with purpose. The way he speaks with passion. They’ve never gotten along, never spent time alone together until this night. Never interacted in a way that’s caring or intimate or even friendly, but tonight is different. And Spencer is truly confused by it. 

Liam sits across the table having similar thoughts. He’s always known that, despite the seemingly unfriendly relationship that he has with Spencer, a large part of him has always wanted to spend more time with her. It’s mostly jealousy that holds him back. Her friendships with the lads are solid while theirs has always been shaky. 

Liam looks up at her from behind his menu. She’s not looking at him, carefully studying the menu in her own hands, trying to decide what she’s in the mood for. He watches the way her her nose scrunches up as she thinks. It’s the most adorable thing he’s ever seen and he want’s to watch it every day.

“So…. what are you getting.” Spencer asks him, breaking into his thoughts. He shakes his head and looks down at the menu again.

“Um…” he starts hesitantly. “I don’t know probably just the Chicken Parmesan or something. What about you?”

“I mean… the Grilled Chicken Salad sounds good.” she laughs. Liam waves over the waiter and they place their orders.

“Hey!” he says excitedly. “I just remembered, there’s a flat in Andy’s building that’s vacant. You should check it out maybe. One of Maz’s friend used to live there but he moved out a last month to live with his girlfriend I think. I’ve been in there, it’s really nice.” She smiles at him.

“Yeah maybe I will. Although…. Look, don’t take this the wrong way or anything living that close to Andy…. I don’t know that might be weird. I don’t think he likes me very much.” she tells him before adding softly, “but I mean…. uh, idk.”

“Spence, it’s not like you have to live WITH him.” Liam laughs. “I mean…. he’s never really home anyway. He travels a lot and stuff so you’d probably never even really run into him.”

“Yeah I mean I guess you’re right.”

“Plus, it’s pretty close to my place.” he adds, though he’s not sure why. She doesn’t even like him that much, so it wouldn’t really be an incentive to her at all. But she smiles when he says it and his heart soars a little bit. 

“Yeah?” She asks almost skeptically.

“Uh, yeah… Um, cause you know you’d be living alone so, like, someone would be close by if anyone….. broke in or something.” Liam stutters.

“I mean, if you think someone’s going to break in maybe I shouldn’t live there.” Spencer teases. Liam's face goes beat red and she giggles. 

“Well, we could like, hang out too I guess. We don’t really…. do that.” It’s Spencer's turn to blush now. Ducking her head slightly, she smiles up at him through her lashes.

“That sounds like it could be ok with me.”


End file.
